The first question to ask is if you are connecting the headset to the headset socket at the bottom of the phone.

If you have attached the headset to the phone, you will be able to find the radio from the list of applications from the menu icon. If you press the radio on/off button you will be able to use and tune the radio and have the option of automatic tuning and be able to saving the channel for future access.

The radio control would be an app, and I assume you've looked in the app drawer? (Terminology varies, but the name is usually the highly intuitive "FM Radio" ) The headset is necessary to act as an aerial, that's all.

I had a look at the manual (link above) and couldn't see anything. It sounds as though the spec may be wrong, although I'm surrpised GSMArena repeated it - I thought they did their own tests, although they may not have been able to get access to this particular device.

Actually, I've just had a look at the online spec and there's no mention of a radio - has it perhaps been updated? GSMArena still lists one.

This is going to need further investigation - if you bought the device specifically because it was listed as having a radio, you have cause for complaint and should be able to return it. However, someone will need to confirm that the spec was listed wrongly by Vodafone at some point. The forum team should be able to do that, and I'll alert them.

I'm sorry for any confusion over this @Leecb. I've checked and this phone doesn't have a built in FM radio. I'm sorry the information you saw on a third party site was incorrect. You can see the correct specifications for the Smart X9 on our website.

If there's anything else we can help with, don't hesitate to let us know.

There isn't a full specification on the website, at least I cannot find it nor can three separate people on your chat service! You say the spec on third party sites was not correct, I presume that spec was provided by Vodafone and the only reason I looked on third party sites (I.e. more than one) was because there was not one on your site. I did however check with your web chat service who confirmed there was an FM radio and have now checked 3 or 4 times since and every time have been told there is a radio.

To clarify: the question I raised was whether the spec on the Vodafone website originally included FM radio and has since been corrected? If @Leecb saw an earlier version that included the radio, I don't think it would be unreasonable to ask for a retrun (if that's what you want and a radio is important to you). However, if the information about the radio only came from a 3rd party site, that wouldn't be an issue for Vodafone.

Someone in the products department must know whether there was a spec update, mustn't they?

I have never been able to find a specification on the website, nor have the chat team when I have asked them for a link on numerous separate occasions. Without the availability on the website the only other thing I could do was look at third party sites (a few) and they all say it has a radio (I presume that information has either incorrectly been given by Vodafone or they have all tested separately and all got it wrong!) Then the other option is to contact Vodafone directly which I did via chats again on numerous occasions and every time was told that it does have an FM radio. Indeed, even on my last chat when I was asking for the problems I have had to be raised as a complaint the person still finished the chat by saying it does have an FM radio!!! There is nothing more I could or should have done.

Lastly with regards to a return. That will not rectify the problem. My daughter and I have spent hours setting these phones up and I have spent hours on the phone to the incompetent chat team. That is then not to mention the completely wasted hour round trip to my local Vodafone store to queue up for ages to only be treated like an idiot by a rude member of staff who simply points out the obvious (to me if not your chat team) that it does not have a radio. Equally my daughter and I have both bought cases, screen protectors, leads etc to go with the phones that cannot be returned.

To simply say the answer is to return the phones is to completely miss the point!

I note from research online that this is not an all to uncommon problem and it seems most phones have the capability (it comes with the chip sets) but the phone companies chose to turn it off. It may be a possibility to get this turned on. Failing that though we will have to think of a suitable outcome.

I'm sorry for any conflicting information that you may have received @Leecb in relation to the specifications of your phone. So we're able to take a closer look into this for you, have you contacted us via the details that have been provided to you in the private message? If so, you should have received an automated message with a reference number - which should look something like this [#12345678]. Can you please confirm this to us? I'll then be able to check if we've received your details.

As far as the radio goes, the message has actually been very consistent.

With regards to the response to the message I have not responded as yet. The only reason for this is that your request came after, as I mentioned in my last post, my request on a chat that this be escalated as a complaint. I was reassured (eventually) that it would be escalated and that I would get a call back (I am still waiting.) I didn't want the two to get mixed up and for you to effectively be running two complaints at the same time for the same problem.

As I said previously, Vodafone can't really take responsibility for what appears on 3rd party websites, although those sites may have got their information from information sent out by the company (although bear in mind that that could be an early version and that they should have checked the final spec). However, if Vodafone staff are telling you there's a radio, it sounds as though there's an out of date spec sheet on the system somewhere. The link I included above does include a specification tab and I would expect "FM Radio" to appear under "Sounds" if it was there.

With regard to setup, I'm afraid that's all part of getting a new device. However, recent versions of Android have inclued a pretty good transfer utility (often in the Backup & Restore section of the main Settings menu), which takea lot of the pain out of repeating the process.

This is all getting somewhat confusing as I am getting responses from 3 different people (hrym Community champion, loz moderator and Blair moderator) who all appear to be talking like they may be from Vodafone but I am not even sure if they are or what there position is. Perhaps it will help clarity if I could have that information first. Then perhaps it may be easier to resolve if I just communicate with one person from Vodafone.

To clarify, I'm just a Vodafone customer and don't have inside information. I'm merely trying to help you get the information you need - was there ever a spec that included the radio and could you have seen it on the Vodafone website?

As a matter of cusiosity, I did a bit of research yesterday and it seems that relatively few phones include a radio these days (there are plenty of streaming services). One that does is the Sony XA2, but I had to go to the Sony website to find that. Vodafone don't mention it and, as far as I mremember, Carphone Warehouse don't either.